A thermoelectric element is a device that is able to use electrical energy to pump heat. This effect is known as a Peltier effect and may be used to provide cooling and/or heating depending on the direction of an applied current. A thermoelectric element may also be used in the inverse of this arrangement in which a temperature gradient is used to generate electrical voltage. This effect is known as the Seebeck effect. Various classes of semiconductor materials appropriate for thermoelectric elements are known and include, without limitation, Bi2Te3, Bi2-xSbxTe3, PbTe-PbS-based materials and half-Heusler compounds having a MgAgAs structure.
Peltier heat pumps make use of the Peltier effect to create a heat flux between the junction of two different types of thermoelectric semiconductor materials, for example, a first semiconductor member having a first conductivity type and a second semiconductor member having a second conductivity type which opposes the first conductivity type. The two semiconductor members are arranged in a spatially alternating fashion and are arranged thermally in parallel and electrically in series.
A Peltier heat pump may be used to cool or to heat electronic devices. U.S. Publication No. 2006/0237730 A1 discloses a Peltier cooler integrated with an electronic device in which the Peltier elements are driven by the same current as the cooled electronic device.
Further arrangements of Peltier heat pumps suitable for use with electronic devices are, however, desirable.